Keeping in the Family
by Ms. Videl Son
Summary: [HIATUS] “If ‘Niisan won’t marry you, will you marry me instead?” With a misplaced wish on the dragonballs, this could turn into a problem. [PostBuu, GV – but which G?]
1. Pop! Goes the Question

**Title:**Keeping in the Family  
**Disclaimer:**...Yeah, because this would ever happen.  
**Rating:**PG-13 ( T ), for angst, violence, lust and a young Saiyan hybrid learning the value of naughty words.

**Summary:** "If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?" With a misplaced wish on the dragonballs, this could turn into a problem. Post-Buu, GV – but which G?

Nope, don't feel like doing a prologue.

* * *

**Chapter One:** Pop! Goes the Question

"Don't hold your arms so tense, relax your joints," Gohan instructed, slumping his shoulders for emphasis. "You have to be loose or you'll hurt yourself."

"I_ am_ being loose!" Videl growled through clenched teeth. She held her arms out straight before her, elbows locked into position as she attempted to force her chi outward. She dug her heels into the lawn as her power grew, burdening the muscles of her petite figure with dense energy, and struggled to keep her posture.

Gohan ran his fingers through his messy spikes, at a loss. How many ways could you tell someone to relax? "Videl-san, if you don't loosen up your joints you won't be able to release your chi. It's like kinking a hose."

Videl ignored him and flared her blue aura, curling her fingers tightly over her palms. She squinted her eyes shut to block out her instructor's well-meaning advice and focused solely on forcing intangible energy from her body. Her palms seared as the power bled to the surface, clinging to every nerve like dust to static.

Bolts of blue electricity spawned from her fingertips as the chi finally began to break through physical barriers. The energy gathered in the cup of her hands in the form of a flickering orb, swelling to larger proportions as its creator fed it her own life.

'_Come on...come _on!'

"Augh!"

The bubble of chi burst, sending it's particles flying into oblivion. As the blue faded away, so too did the similar hue in Videl's eyes. The iced periwinkle shade darkened as her consciousness wavered and she slipped into the dreamless oblivion of one with no more energy to spare on frivolous fantasy.

Videl fell forward as her own stubborn will abandoned her to the dark world of unconsciousness, leaving her in the care of her concerned instructor.

"Videl-san!" Gohan shouted, heart fluttering in instantaneous panic. He rushed to catch her as she fell, her blue energy flickering and fading away as she descended to the ground, and swept his arms beneath her so that he might catch her before she hit the earth. She collapsed into them, face first, limp and panting. Gohan landed backward on the grass, cradling his felled student in his lap as he inquired after her condition; "Videl-san, are you alright?"

At first, Videl didn't answer, panting heavily into his bare chest from the exertion of her mistake. "F-fine...," she muttered finally. She dug her bloodied nails into his biceps, face scrunched in frustration. "Goddamnit!"

Taking her inclination to curse as a good sign, Gohan allowed all the muscles in his body to relax. "Hey, you're doing well. Nobody gets the hang of this on the first day," he assured her, smiling as he reached up to pat the crown of her head.

Videl snorted and turned her face away from his optimism. "It's been _six_ days," she replied bitterly.

Gohan sighed, again running his fingers through his hair; something he found he did when he felt helpless and frustrated. "Yeah, well, shooting ki blasts is more difficult than flying," he explained honestly. "I had to spend six months in training before I could do it." _'Of course, I was four years old and too busy catching dinosaur for dinner to learn, but she doesn't have to know that.__'_

Videl lifted her blue eyes toward him reluctantly. "Really?"

"Really," Gohan agreed, pleased with himself for finally saying something right. "And at the time I was already stronger than you, so – "

"So you're saying that this is going to take me longer than six months!" Videl interrupted, eyes narrowed over a deepening frown.

'_Damnit_,' Gohan thought, refraining from touching his hair this time lest he pull it out. "Well, I was only four years old and had never had training before, so – "

"YOU COULD DO THIS AT FOUR YEARS OLD?"

The teenage demi-Saiyan prodigy winced at the volume of her voice. "W-well, yeah..."

He was pushed onto his back by the fuming Videl as she struggled to her feet. She wobbled unsteadily but, apparently refusing to be outdone by a four-year-old Gohan, remained standing. Gohan laid on the ground, far too frightened to get up himself, and waited for her to have a "eureka" and blast him into oblivion. Instead, her shadow stretched and disappeared.

"Videl-san?" he called, sitting up. An unsteady Videl was weaving her way back toward the Son house, seeming very much as if she'd just come home from clubbing instead of training.

Coming home.

'_As if, Gohan.'_

Gohan fell backward onto the grass heavily, muffling his frustrated scream with a clenched fist.

"Girls. I don't...get..._girls_."

--- --- ---

"Videl-chan, are you sure that you're feeling alright?" Chi-Chi asked, kneeling down next to the couch with a cool washcloth. Videl was stretched out upon it, the back of her hand shading her vision from the harsh light streaming in from the living room window.

Videl's eyes were blurred and unfocused as she turned to the woman who went beyond mother of the year. She lowered her hand to more effectively meet Chi-Chi's gaze as she replied, "I'm fine, Chi-Chi-san. Just a little woozy."

"You shouldn't tense up. You need to stay relaxed," Goku interjected wisely. "It's kinda like trying to force water through a kink in a hose."

"Yeah, I figured...thanks."

Goku grinned from the kitchen table and dove back into his bowl of rice.

Chi-Chi swept Videl's short bangs to the side and placed the washcloth to her forehead lightly. She sighed heavily as she pulled back, shaking her head. "I still don't know why you want to learn this, Videl-chan. Isn't it bad enough that my husband and sons are getting themselves into danger?"

Videl smiled meekly at Chi-Chi's implication. "I just...don't want to be left behind."

Chi-Chi laughed. "Yes, my boys are good at leaving people behind, aren't they?"

Goku glanced up, but chose not to comment.

"Where's Gohan, anyway? Didn't he come in after you?" Chi-Chi queried, narrowing her eyes in disapproval. Her own son didn't want to take care of the future mother of his children? How shameful.

Videl shrugged, doing her best to mimic an unconcerned demeanor."Nope, guess not." She knew Gohan wouldn't follow her when she was upset, he never did. A small, nasty part of her conscience couldn't blame him, either.

"Well, he'll come in as soon as he gets hun – _Goku_! Don't eat it all, save some for the boys!"

A cowed Goku pulled his hand away from the pot at the center of the table. "But, Chi-Chi," he whined. "I'm still hungry..."

"You can wait until dinner for more food. Now, get out of my kitchen!"

"Chi-Chiii..."

"NOW!"

"Aww..."

The middle-aged mother of two – and, sometimes, three – swatted at her husband with her iron skillet, which always seemed to be strangely on hand. "Go on! Go find your sons, while you're at it."

"Yes, dear...," Goku acquiesced, pouting as he slumped out of the kitchen with a hand to the new lump in his skull.

'_If Goku-san were anyone else, I'd have to arrest Chi-Chi for domestic abuse_,' Videl thought as she fought to suppress her giggles. Chi-Chi threw the dented frying pan into the sink and started scrubbing._'Or murder_.' Videl grimaced.

"'Kaaaaa-saaaaan...," someone whined. Videl inclined her head slightly, sure that she would see Goku standing in the doorway again for one final beg at food. Instead, the next best thing tugged at his mothers hand pitifully. "I'm hungry, 'Kaa-san."

"Lunch is on the table, Goten. You can get it yourself."

"But it tastes better when you do it..."

Chi-Chi turned on the faucet and soaked another washcloth. "You're just going to have to eat your own servings today, Goten. Videl-chan isn't feeling well."

Goten squawked in horror. "What's wrong with 'Nee-chan?"

"I'm fine, Goten. I just overdid my training today, is all," Videl reassured him from her prone position on the couch. She tried to sit up to prove it to him, but failed miserably and set her throbbing head back onto the pillow.

Goten sidestepped his mother and, with Super Saiyan speed, was at Videl's side instantaneously. "Did 'Nii-chan hurt you again?" he asked, his large, sympathetic eyes swelling with crocodile tears.

Water from the wrung washcloth suddenly stopped hitting the bottom of the sink.

"No, Goten, Gohan-kun didn't hurt me." She smiled, stroking the little Saiyan hybrid's hair. "I tried to force water through a kinked hose."

The splashing in the kitchen sink resumed.

Goten tilted his head in confusion and Videl laughed. "It's an expression."

"Ohh...," Goten replied, nodding his head vigorously in understanding. "Will 'Nee-chan be alright?"

Chi-Chi glided around the side of the couch, shooing Goten away so that she might take his position next to Videl's shoulder. Removing the warm, drying washcloth from Videl's forehead, Chi-Chi replaced it with a cool one. "She just needs rest, Goten. Now go eat your lunch before your father sneaks back in to eat the rest of it."

Videl sent him a reassuring wink before leaning back and closing her eyes, taking Chi-Chi's motherly advice to heart. Chi-Chi collected the used rag and disappeared to someplace that didn't seem to matter for the moment. Meanwhile, Goten fidgeted near Videl's feet, anxiously trying to think how to fix his 'Nee-chan.

His stomach rumbled with inspiration. "I know! I'll bring you lunch, 'Nee-chan. That always makes me feel better!"

Heeding his mother's parting orders to remain quiet, Goten hopped over the couch with a small leap and raced to the kitchen on tip-toe. With great care and only a few spills, Goten compiled a towering stack of plates laden with his mother's excellent cooking and, balancing with both hands and his head, proceeded to walk around the kitchen table and into –

_CRASH_

– Gohan's legs.

Losing their precarious balance, the plates crashed to the linoleum and scattered to the far reaches of the kitchen, breaking into hundreds of smaller pieces.

Goten cracked open an eye, peeking through splayed fingers, and sobbed at the mess. Gohan, holding him above the chaos, scolded, "You need to be careful, squirt. That's why 'Kaa-san won't let you eat in the living room."

The tears he had been holding back since Videl's accident burst forth with a loud wail. "Y-you wrecked 'N-Nee-chan's lunch! N-now she won't f-feel any b-b-better!"

Gohan, startled, nearly dropped Goten on a pile of broken dishes. "W-wha?"

"'N-Nee-chan's lunch! Y-you r-r-ruined it!" Goten accused between sobs. "N-now she c-c-can't feel better!"

"Gohan-kun? What's going on over there?"

Gohan gulped and looked into the living room where Videl struggled to keep her head above the back of the couch. "N-nothing, Videl-san! We just had a little accident, that's all."

"Y-you r-ruined it, 'Nii-san!"

Videl, alarmed, tossed the sopping washcloth to the floor with a wet "smack" and fought to get to her feet and rush to the youngest Saiyan's aid. "Gohan, what did you do?" she screeched, wobbling into the kitchen.

Gohan winced and held his hand out, holding Videl by the shoulder at arms length. "Be careful, there's broken glass!" he shouted over Goten's wails.

Videl smacked Gohan's hand away and reached out for Goten, tugging him away from his elder brother. She pulled Goten to her chest and stroked loving fingers through his thick hair. "It's okay, little guy. It's okay...we can fix it, I promise." She glared at Gohan over Goten's head, nestled safely beneath her chin.

Gohan looked down at his feet in shame.

"What's going on in here?" Chi-Chi called, poking her head through the open door that Gohan had forgotten to close. She held a full laundry basket, topped with a pair of teddy bear boxer shorts, between her arms.

"Gohan-kun broke some dishes," Videl supplied, narrowing her accusing eyes at Gohan.

"W-wait, it wasn't totally my fault!"

Goten sniffled into Videl's collar. "'N-Nii-san r-ruined 'Nee-chan's lunch..."

"Gohan, if you wanted to eat, you could have gotten your own plate," Chi-Chi reprimanded, setting the basket down in the hall as she went to retrieve the broom. Videl spun on her heel and returned to the couch, wary of collapsing again, and coddled Goten until he stopped crying.

Gohan banged his head into the kitchen wall. "Great, I'll bet Otou-san's going to be mad at me for wasting food next."

Goku's insulted voice called from the doorway, "You're wasting food, Gohan?"

_Kill me._

_--- --- --- _

"I really think you should spend the night, Videl-chan. It's not safe for you to fly home in your condition," Chi-Chi admonished softly, passing Videl a large bowl piled high with rice.

Videl accepted the bowl, stomach grumbling at the loss of her would-be lunch, and declined politely. "I can't, Chi-Chi-san. 'Tou-san would have a fit if I spent the night at a boy's house."

"I could give him a call and explain, if you like," Chi-Chi offered, looking hopeful.

"No, thank you, Chi-Chi-san. I'd better go home," Videl refused, lowering her bowl to the table and twisting a guilty smile onto her face.

Goten swallowed a large bite with a gulp. "You could sleep with me, 'Nee-chan," he offered with a grin.

Videl smiled as she dribbled soy sauce on her rice. "Thanks, Goten, but 'Tou-san will be worried about me if I tell him I can't make it home tonight." _'And he'll probably die trying to kill Gohan.'_

She glanced at Gohan, who was silently shoveling food into his mouth with eyes downcast. Goku sat to his left, leaning back casually in his seat, eating in much the same, sloppy fashion. Chi-Chi managed to save the napkin dangling from Goku's shirt before he inhaled all of it and set it in her husband's lap before returning daintily to her food. Goten was the only one who spared Videl his full attention, taking slow bites in an obvious effort to impress her with his good manners.

"But, when I'm tired, I sleep over at Trunks-kun's house all the time. 'Kaa-san doesn't mind." Goten whined, pouting around his chopsticks.

Videl mixed the dark, salty sauce into her food as she smiled at the youngest Son child. "It's a little different this time, Goten. I'm sorry."

Goten puckered his lower lip. "Why?"

Gohan coughed into his bowl across the table, but remained otherwise silent.

Videl weighed her options and settled on a half-truth; "Well, because boys and girls who aren't married shouldn't sleep together." Goten opened his mouth to ask the dangerous question again, and Videl elaborated; "It's the rules."

"Oh."

Conversation was suspended for a few awkward minutes, long enough for Goten to finish his meal and Goku to go in for thirds (only to be swatted away with Chi-Chi's frying pan again). As Goten swallowed the last bite of his second helping, he was struck with sudden, curious inspiration.

"'Nee-chan could marry Nii-san," the youngest Saiyan suggested to his suddenly-still dining companions. "Then she could sleep over whenever she wanted!"

Gohan fell off his chair across the table, choking violently on a piece of food. Goku paused long enough in his own feasting to help his son up, patting him roughly on the back to dislodge the alien object blocking his windpipe, as the two women turned to look at the youngest member of the table.

Videl coughed into her closed fist, considering her possible answers. "Well – "

"N-no!" Gohan interrupted, voice strained from his recent struggle with death. Videl frowned across the table at him.

"Don't sound so enthusiastic about the idea, Gohan-kun," she hissed through clenched teeth, wishing his shin were still in range to kick beneath the table. "You might hurt yourself."

'_Unless she gets to it first.'_

'_Save me the trouble.'_

Gohan struggled with a less volatile response. "Ah, w-what I meant was – "

"The answer is _no_, Goten. I'm not going to marry Gohan-kun," Videl interrupted spitefully. Chi-Chi glanced fearfully between her son and her self-appointed candidate for the mother of his children.

Goten looked to his brother for answers. "Why don't you want to marry 'Nee-chan?"

Gohan pushed his chair away from the table, putting more distance between himself and Videl. "I-it's not that, Goten. I-I just...we-we're not..."

"Not_ what_, Gohan-kun?"

'_Oh, boy.'_

'_Try me.'_

Gohan could feel himself sinking deeper and deeper into his self-dug grave. "W-well, you have to be um...ah...intimate to get married."

Videl's eyes were smaller than hardly anyone had ever seen them and shrinking with every passing second. Beneath her narrowed lids, her blue cornea were brightly glowing slits of offended malice. "_Intimate_?" she repeated, emphasizing the word in a way that implied extreme caution was to be taken in reply.

'_That came out totally wrong.'_

'_That better not mean what it sounds like.'_

"Y-you know, ah – " Gohan had no more words left – helpful or otherwise – to follow up his latest mistake.

"So you want to try your wife out before you marry her, is that it?" Videl accused him, her voice lowered dangerously in pitch.

"What?" Gohan replied with an accompanying yelp. "No, th-that's not what I – "

'_God, my foot tastes awful.__'_

'_He'd better make room for my foot, too.'_

Chi-Chi and Goku (who had learned the hard way when a woman was about to explode) distanced themselves from the danger zone as well, leaving only a seething Videl and an unconcerned Goten sitting at the table. Goten looked between his brother and potential sister, waiting for answers. Both parties squared off silently, one clenching the edge of the table with barely suppressed rage and the other tilted back in his chair against the wall.

Goten swallowed a stolen bite from his fathers plate and, leaning over the table to better fix Videl with his begging eyes, asked, "If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?"

* * *

**Honorifics/Words:**

**Chi**– energy, latent power; if controlled properly, it gives people the ability to fly and/or shoot offensive beams.

**Gi**– training clothes.

**-kun** – familiar masculine form of "cute" (You can also make this honorific more formal by referring to someone by their last name. Ie, Son-kun.)

**-chan** – familiar feminine form of "cute" or "little" (You can also make this honorific more formal by referring to someone by their last name. Ie, Satan-chan.)

**-san**– formal unisexual address; can mean "Mr," "Miss," or "Mrs." Significant of respect and/or a non-personal relationship. (Ie, Chi-Chi-san, Goku-san, Videl-san.)

**-sama**– formal honorific used to address someone of higher stature, such as royalty or god-like stature; ie, Kami-sama. (For future reference)

**Otou-san/'Tou-san** – Father/Dad

**Okaa-san/'Kaa-san** – Mother/Mom

**Onii-san/'Nii-san** – older brother; a younger child can also refer to a slightly older, non-related male in the same way.

**Onee-san/'Nee-chan** – older sister; a younger child can also refer to a slightly older, non-related female in the same way

In Japanese, an "O" sound denotes great respect and formality. Therefore, "Otou-san" is more formal address than "'Tou-san." (Hint, hint, _hint_)

To refer to someone without an honorific denotes a close, extremely casual relationship. We're talkin' non-related people who have known each other for most of their lives and other such relationships. One would NEVER refer to someone by only their first name (unless asked to, of course) as only an acquaintance. This would be seen as a sign of great disrespect.

**NOTE:** I don't speak Japanese, nor do I pretend to, so this story will be entirely in ENGLISH. I don't insert random Japanese sentences in my writing as I think it both undermines Japanese culture/language when used incorrectly and becomes confusing. However, I use the Japanese honorific's because I think that they denote important aspects of relationships. You can tell who someone is to someone else simply by knowing which honorific they are addressed by. I challenge you, the reader, to judge the relationships of the characters by keeping up with the honorific's they use and are called by.

---

**Authors Note:** I really hate having to leave long, instructional notes in chapters, so I'm only going to leave up the honorific's lesson for this chapter. If new ones come up later, I'll put them in at the bottom of the chapter, but I think I've got most of the basic's covered.

Anyway, I don't know if this story has ever been written before, but I promise it won't be gross or anything. If anything, I intend to make it kinda cute and fluffy...I'm not going to give away the final pairing, though All I'm gonna say is "GV" and take a poll on who y'all WANT her to end up with. (Not that I'm taking suggestions, mind you, I'm just curious )

Y'know, I only edited this damn chapter about ten times...it had better be enough.

---

**EDIT:** I fixed up a few small grammatical things in this chapter to make it flow a little better, but it's basically the same as it ever was. I will be continuing these edits for all of the existing chapters, but none of the content will be affected; the story will continue on as was originally intended.

---

_**. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .**_

– _Brothers can't share everything. GohanVidelGoten_

_--- _

**Next Chapter: **A wish is made on the dragonballs...Gohan is chilled by the cold shoulder...and the plot is officially set in motion.


	2. Away! Goes the Son

**Title:**Keeping in the Family  
**Disclaimer:**...Yeah, because this would ever happen.  
**Rating:**PG-13 ( T ), for angst, violence, lust and a young Saiyan hybrid learning the value of naughty words.

**Summary:** "If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?" With a misplaced wish on the dragonballs, this could turn into a problem. Post-Buu, GV – but which G?

See? You didn't need a prologue.

* * *

**Chapter Two: **Away! Goes the Son

Goten's orange-tinted reflection grinned at him in the crystalline surface of the magical, god-made artifact clutched between his tiny palms. The second child of Goku glowed brighter than the dragonball in unrestrained triumph, holding the wish-giving globe high above his head at greater vantage.

"Trunks-kun! I found it, I found it!" Goten cheered, twirling in mid-air as he held his prize aloft on a pedestal of pride. "It was in bird-san's nest!"

Trunks leaned over the sharp edge of the cliff fifty feet above, heedless of the dangerous height, and squinted down at his fellow hunter. A shining splotch of gold betwixt his partner's hands made him grin. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Alright, Goten! Bring it up here!"

The half-Saiyan clone of Goku slowed the spinning of his body and waited for his insides to catch up. The dragonball doubled in his vision for an instant before morphing back into a singular object. "Coming, Trunks-kun!"

Careful not to drop his long-time quarry, Goten released a burst of chi that propelled him upward at high-speed. He skimmed the cliff's face, stirring loose foliage and stray gull feathers as he ascended. A swarm of seagulls squawked around him in anger, disturbed from their roosting, and surpassed him as they escaped into the great blue beyond.

With a grace not allotted most eight year olds, Goten touched ground next to Trunks on the rocky ledge on pointed toe. "I've got it, Trunks-kun!" he reminded his counterpart eagerly. Goten held up the starred orb for emphasis.

Trunks leaned over and glared suspiciously at the dragonball as if certain that Goten couldn't have possibly done it right and the orange globe would turn out to be a forgery, but smirked with satisfaction soon enough. "Good job, Goten. That's the last one."

Doubly proud of himself now, Goten's inherited grin spread from ear to ear. "Do we get to make our wish now?"

"Yep!" Trunks conceded, kneeling next to their bag of treasure for a final count. He muttered numbers under his breath as he touched each ball in turn, mentally checking them off his list. After triple-checking his count on the radar, the violet-haired princeling declared himself satisfied. "We probably shouldn't make our wishes here, though," Trunks mused aloud, casting his eyes about for a more suitable spot.

Goten tilted his head at Trunks as he queried, "Why not?"

Pausing in his search of the immediate area to tun his attention on Goten, Trunks rolled his eyes in exasperation. Intelligence was obviously an inherited trait. "Shenlong might be too heavy, you dope. Do you want to fall into the ocean and drown if he causes a landslide?"

Goten looked to the sky as he considered the likelihood of the infamously huge Eternal Dragon being unsupported on the rocky, elevated terrain. Visions of the huge, snake-like being overshadowing both the Earth and sky couldn't be neglected when he answered, "Hm. I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," Trunks replied with a self-satisfied smirk, equally the son of Bulma.

The boys resumed the search of the local vicinity with their eyes, seeking out a more stable area to summon the dragon god. A few yards opposite the ledge in each direction, the ground sloped into softer terrain carpeted in yellow-green grass, sprinkled with wild flowers. The flowers, further along, were overshadowed by outcrops of trees that grew steadily closer together as one approached the clusters center.

With no obvious clearings from their short vantage, the boys lifted themselves into the air to compensate their height. Their ever-observant child eyes skimmed the horizon over the forest canopy for a convenient spot to call forth Shenlong.

"Trunks-kun, what about over there?" Goten suggested, pointing to the west. A couple miles in that direction, the trees thinned and a plain of undisturbed grass stretched from the edge of the forest into unknown territory beyond.

Trunks pretended to consider it, rubbing his chin like he'd seen his mother do time and again when she was pretending to hold back on buying him something. "Well...I guess it'll do..."

"Whoopie!" Goten cried, doing a series of flips. "Let's go, Trunks-kun – I'll race you!" the youngest Saiyan challenged, wasting no time in leaving his dragonball-burdened partner behind.

"Wait, Goten!" Trunks shouted, disgruntled. "That's no fair! You got a head start!"

Goten turned his head and blew a wet raspberry over his shoulder.

The lavender-topped saiyan princeling shifted the duffle bag filled with dragonballs on his shoulder, the smirk on his face curling into a full-fledged grin. "Fine, you don't want to play it fair, then we won't play it fair."

With a flash of gold and a sense of justice, Trunks took off after Goten.

--- --- ---

A breeze invited itself in through the open window of the science classroom, taunting the confined students with a hint of summer heat. They all leaned into the wayward wisp of wind, breathing in the light flavor of ripe watermelon and the bitter smell of burning sulfur. If they were to simply close their eyes, the gust would carry them to a place far away from their educational prison, stretched out on a sandy beach in the shade of a palm while the salty waves licked their bare feet. Multicolored drinks with miniature umbrellas would be on hand as they soaked in the dry summer heat and ignored their homework due at the beginning of next term.

Freedom. Pure...sweet...unadulterated _freedom_. A week long eventuality.

Those lucky enough to have been assigned window seats were privileged with scenery to accompany their wandering eyes and minds. Plush-looking grass out on the sporting fields, the clear sparkling blue of the swimming pool and the promising breeze lured their attention away from the lesson at hand and focused them on their many fantasies of freedom beyond the school's gates. Even the deep-throated drawl of the professor in the background seemed only half-hearted at the prospect of being rid of this frightful institute of learning.

Gohan, wasting his prime position by the window, couldn't have cared less for the promising weather. Whatever in hell's name the professor was going on about was even lower priority for the genius demi-Saiyan considering his mother had surely forced the same material into his head at age four. Even if it had been necessary for him to listen to the god-forsaken educator, Gohan would have been much too distracted to bother anyway. His problems were, by far, more relevant than a long dead moon's cycles.

Erasa sighed heavily by his shoulder for the third time in five minutes, staring out the window over Gohan's slackened shoulder. A new breeze wafted into the classroom, eliciting a few near-moans of pleasure from it's enraptured audience and another, more approving sigh from Erasa. It licked at Gohan's ears, whispering sweet nothings to him about the day beyond the concrete jungle.

Gohan was still far from giving into the temptation of the summer's day. His attention was drawn to a colder front indoors, pointedly ignoring him in favor of abusing her unfortunate piece of paper. Gohan's gaze was locked onto the one student who appeared to be dutifully taking down the professor's learned speech, scratching away at her paper with a frightful gleam in her eye. She bore down on her innocent paper with nothing short of enraged fervor as she ignored her enthralled, one-man audience.

The breeze whispered lovingly into his ear again, but Gohan was interested in hearing only one voice in the room full of students. It didn't seem as if she would acquiesce, however, as she carved the assignment into the desk through her doubly-murdered sheet of paper. Her pen oozed its dark blood onto the death scene, leaving black splotches during instantaneous pauses for punctuation. She was more absorbed in her paper than the ink while she ignored her distressed after school instructor.

Videl hadn't spoken to her demi-Saiyan classmate in three days. _Three_ days. Not since Saturday evening after the...unpleasantness. She had willingly obliged to explain the complications of a marital relationship to Goten, but had completely ignored Gohan from thenceforth. Videl had even refused to offer him a simple "bye" as she left for home that night, opting instead for her silent grudge that Gohan was sure to endure for a long while. With Videl gone, his mother had rounded on him next, bouncing back and forth between disgruntled anger about how he treated women and tears over her now lost future grandchildren. He was then ordered to take Videl out and apologize after school today.

Watching the teenaged poster child for anger management from a safe distance away, Gohan somehow figured that talking to Videl's chair would be a more productive waste of their time. If Videl was anything, she was adamant about everything she did or didn't want to do, even to a fault. But that was just the way that Gohan loved her...much to his own disgruntlement.

The fear of rejection aside, Gohan further had to worry about being physically and verbally abused if he were to ask her _the_ question wrong. (Not that even asking her was an option anymore, of course.) He had almost gotten up the courage to decide to ask her when he had completely ruined everything over the weekend. And now, of course, his mother insisted (or, more precisely, _ordered_) that he do the very thing that he had lacked the courage to do since before the Budokai...

Resting his chin against his palm, Gohan propped himself up to stare at the object of his discouraging affection. There was no way she'd agree to a date with him...

"Hey, Videl," a deep voice interrupted the hybrid's wayward thoughts of lost love and women scorned. Sharpener had entered his line of vision, leaning around Videl with a smooth smirk on his face.

Videl didn't bother to look up from her scribbling. "What?"

Ah, there was Gohan's refreshing breeze.

Sharpener leaned in closer, indifferent to the potential danger he faced in simple proximity to a hopeful half-Saiyan's prospective girlfriend, and rested a leisurely hand on her knee. "Could I borrow a pencil?"

"No."

"Cummon, Videl. I left mine at home," he continued, giving her knee a squeeze. The desk in front of Gohan received a similar but greater pressure.

"Too bad," Videl replied, unmoved. "Now back off before you get to borrow this pen through your neck." She jabbed a period at the end of her sentence for emphasis.

With an offended snort, Sharpener relented to her wishes to be left alone. "Sheesh, fine..."

Sharpener removed his hand and sat back in his seat, a safe distance away from Videl's bad mood. She didn't usually threaten him with death until around the tenth wheedle for attention, but he obviously wasn't about to push his luck when she was so...out of spirits.

Gohan tore his eyes away from Videl for the first time in hours in effort to hide his growing smile. He doubted that this technique was effective, but cared more about the teacher's recitation of the text than this fact. It was always uplifting to see Videl blow off Sharpener, who had redoubled his efforts in dating Videl after the tournament when it was apparent that Gohan hadn't made his move.

Sharpener seemed to have conveniently (or inconveniently, depending on how you looked at it) forgotten the ever so small, yet ever so important detail about Saiyaman's true identity after being revived. Shame, really; had Sharpener been more interested in his own salvation, it would have probably been enough to convince him to switch seats with Goku's eldest, hormone-driven son.

Not that close proximity to the miffed daughter of Mr. Satan seemed like a good idea today. After a good weekend of training (assuming Gohan refrained from angering her), though, she always had this adorably perky smile...she hummed a lot, too. Usually that song he had grown to like...he didn't know what it was, but it had a cheerful beat.

Another breeze invited itself into the classroom, ruffling the short hairs on Gohan's neck. Beside him, Erasa shivered and rubbed her bare arms against the sudden chill. Her teeth chattered in complaint and she slid down in her seat as her demi-Saiyan classmate froze, finding interest in the window after all.

"Gohan-kun, what's wrong?"

Issues far beyond Videl opting to speak to him again plagued Gohan as he stared in horror out the window.

Black. The sky was pitch black at noon.

"Oh...shit..."

--- --- ---

"No fair, Trunks-kun!" a disgruntled Goten complained, rubbing a purpling spot on his left arm. "You're not supposed to kick in a race!"

Trunks snorted, stopping an escaping dragonball with his foot. He nudged it with the tip of his toe, prompting it to rejoin its fellows. "Yeah, well, you got a head start. That makes us even."

"Nuh uh! 'Cause you went Super Saiyan, too," the younger boy countered, pointing a finger at his adversary. "That means you were unfair _twice_."

"Nobody ever said that I couldn't go Super," Trunks defended. "Besides, who cares about the dumb race? We're here to make our wishes, right?"

Changing moods with a speed only his mother could beat, Goten cheered. "Yeah!"

"So shut up and put the last dragonball over here," Trunks commanded, pointing at the gathering of star-speckled orbs down by his feet.

Goten crouched low and placed the final ball in the center of the group, completing the earthly constellation. He hopped backwards to stand next to Trunks as the balls began to pulse with light. The miniature red stars within twinkled in rhythm with the pulse, impatiently urging their founders to call forth the dragon.

"Here goes!" Trunks announced, clenching his hands in anticipation.

Goten bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet as he waited for Trunks to wake the sleeping dragon god. It had been Goten's idea, for once, to take off on this adventure. He had thought about it for a long time over the past couple of days and, even though it had taken him a long time, the youngest Son had finally found a solution to his problem. A solution to everyone's problems, as a matter of fact. All he needed was a teeny, _tiny_ bit of help from the Eternal Dragon...

Trunks held out his hands, palms down, over the dragonballs and, in his best authoritative voice, shouted, "I call forth the Eternal Dragon! ARISE!"

The heavenly orbs abandoned their flashing for a steady glow as the command was processed. The light intensified as the balls began to heat, the crimson stars floating beneath the surface of each darkening to black as they roasted under the influence of heavenly power. A hazy aura surrounded the god-made orange globes and, with a final flash of golden power, the balls cracked, releasing their prisoner into the mortal realm.

The boys leapt away from the explosion as an elongated body burst forth from the wish-granting stones, formed by the swirling aura that hovered around the dragonballs. They landed gracelessly on their backsides as the length of dragon slithered out into the open sky and coiled in the darkened atmosphere.

"Wow...," Goten said in childlike awe, gaping as the scaled rope slowed it's ascension. Against the pitch sky, the Eternal Dragon Shenlong glowed a brilliant gold. As his full power was granted him, his eyes lit with the familiar crimson twinkle of twenty-eight stars.

"**You have gathered all seven dragonballs. You may now have two wishes within my power."**

Goten bounced to his feet, whooping. "Cool! Trunks-kun, what are you going to wish for?"

The half-breed princeling remained frozen on the ground, blinking at the gigantic monster he had released into the world. "Uh..."

"**State your first wish."**

Goten grinned at his playmate expectantly, eager for his own turn.

Trunks blinked a few times before admitting, "I...uh...forgot."

--- --- ---

The classroom was alert and buzzing at this strange new predicament. How did daylight just disappear? At _noon_?

"Is it an eclipse?" someone ventured a guess as the classroom was swallowed by early night. No one bothered turning on the lights.

"T-that's funny...," the confounded professor muttered, not registering his student's question as he approached the window. He placed a hand on the glass and leaned forward, as if this phenomenon could be cleared up by just squinting at it harder. Finding no solution in this, the under-paid government employee removed his glasses and began polishing them feverishly. "A solar eclipse," he corroborated with a strained voice. If there were any light in the room, the chattering students now gathering around the windows would probably have been able to witness their teachers thick dark hair begin to gray.

"But, Takanaka-sensei," a quiet girl who usually sat in the front row raised her hand tentatively. "I...I thought there had to be a moon for a solar eclipse."

Takanaka Yue replaced the now shining lenses on his nose. "Ah, yes...I mean...I thought so..."

The classroom buzzed louder, none of them having passed their last test.

Gohan remained standing behind his desk, far removed from the swarming crowd of students at the windows. Internally, he was the only person in the room more distraught than his overworked and underpaid professor.

"But...there hasn't been a moon since we were, like, five. How can there be an eclipse?"

'_Because there's a giant, wish-granting dragon god blocking the sun.'_

"Maybe the moon grew back...?"

'_Not unless that's what they wished for.__'_

"Is this...yanno...some kind of bad omen?"

'_I sure don't have a good feeling about it.'_

"Omigod! Is this, like, the end of the world?"

'_...depends on who's making the wishes, really.'_

A few of the girls in the classroom with a weaker constitution broke down into tears. "Omigod!" one of them screamed, clutching at her blonde curls hysterically. "I'm gonna die in_ polyester_!"

Someone tugged on his sleeve, insisting on his attention. "Gohan-kun!"they said, lowering their voice for his ears only. "What's going on?"

Gohan turned his head to find Videl standing a step behind him, hand firmly tangled in his long, white sleeve, and bestowing him with a glare that said "The truth. Or else."

She waited impatiently for him to answer before reaching up for his collar. The weaker human being jerked him down by it, bringing master and student nose to nose. "Tell me!" she insisted, lowering her voice to a hiss.

Gohan unstuck his parched throat with difficulty. "S-someone's...using the dragonballs," he admitted honestly.

Videl's eyebrows drew together as she translated Gohan's predicament. "Dragonballs?" she repeated, sifting through her most recent memories. Videl was certain that she had heard of them, at least in passing. "What about them?"

Gohan declined to elaborate as the classroom flooded with a more intense darkness. The lighter navy shade that accompanied the psudo-nighttime sky was drowned in the pitch of all blacks.

"Eeek! This is it!" the same hysterical girl screamed, absorbed in the darkness to the point that it was no longer possible to put a face to the voice.

"Gohan-kun! Tell me what's going on!" Videl demanded, not bothering to hide her voice now. She clutched at the fabric in her grasp more tightly, pulling the accompanying body closer. "Now!" she demanded, sounding panicked.

There was silence from her martial arts tutor.

"Gohan-kun?"

And the fabric slipped from her fingers.

"They've made their first wish," the calm, disembodied voice of Gohan explained.

"What?" Videl asked, reaching out into the darkness for him. Her fingers, once secured firmly in Gohan's shirt, met nothing but air. "Gohan-kun!"

The intense darkness lifted and the lighter navy hue returned, infusing the classroom with a hazy non-light. The silhouettes of the students were visible, still gathered around the window, but one was missing.

There was no Gohan.

Videl could feel her pulse quicken as the sentiment of panic shared with the room truly began to set in. What if there was another catastrophe? Could there be something out there even stronger than Buu? Had Gohan gone to fight it? Dragonballs...dragonballs...what the hell were dragonballs, anyway? Instruments of evil?

Along with the intense darkness, the awed silence of the blinded spectators disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" one student asked, finding his voice before the rest. "Do eclipses change color?"

"Stupid!" the quiet girl from the front row said, beginning to sound angry and panicked. "This isn't an eclipse! There's no freaking moon!"

"I'm scared..." one of the hysterical blonde girl's friends sniffled, clinging to a group of assorted classmates beneath the window. "I d-don't want to d-d-d-die!" she wailed and buried her face in the shoulder of the closest girl. The girl, chubby and spectacled, clung to the slender brunette for her own comfort.

"Hey, what's that?"

"It looks like a shooting star...but why is it so close to the ground?"

Videl, latching onto a new lead, darted to the window, knocking over a pile of simpering teenage girls along her way.

"Hey!" Sharpener complained, elbowed harshly out of the way as Videl usurped his position.

Videl ignored him as she caught sight of the tail end of the blueish "shooting star."

'_Gohan-kun!'_ Was her only thought as she returned Sharpeners spot to him, leaping from the window ledge into the darkened outer atmosphere.

"Videl-san!"

"Videl! Where the hell are you going?"

"Come back!"

He wouldn't leave her behind this time, no way!

With a sense of purpose, Videl charged her electric-blue chi and took off after the trail of light at full speed. She wouldn't be able to catch up with him but, damnit, she would try!

--- --- ---

**Word Bank:**

**Budokai**- for those of you only familiar with the dub version of DBZ, the Tenkaichi Budokai is "The World Martial Arts Tournament" for the world's greatest fighters to show off their stuff in structured battle conditions. Previous winners include: Muten Roshi, Son Goku and Mr. Satan. The tournament also happens to be the place where all hell breaks loose at the start of the Buu Saga.

**Sensei** - teacher; can also be used to address people with professional title, such as a doctor, author, manga-ka, lawyer, etc.

---

**Authors Note: **I lost this chapter TWICE. Not once, but TWICE while I was writing it. Apparently, I had a corrupted disk and not enough forethought to save the file to the damn computer itself. I also lost a first chapter to another fic I was working on, but losing this chapter TWICE was what really got to me. The worst part was that I was genuinely pleased with the second version (well, as pleased as someone can be with something written at four AM, anyway) so I was genuinely pained to see it disappear. Stupid...corrupted...disk. GAH! I'm not going to make THAT mistake again. From henceforth, all my files shall be saved to at LEAST two sources (and, for the next two or three weeks, three) so that I have a backup. Luckily I was undeterred in continuing this after two failures (but maybe the challenge was what kept me going). That said, I'm not particularly thrilled with how parts of this chapter turned out...but I don't hate it, I suppose. Eh, I'm looking forward to the next couple of chapters, though. After just a bit more angst, I get to do the fun stuff again! Heh heh heh...

Also, the ages of the characters are based on the manga as opposed to the anime. In the anime, Gohan is eighteen at the start of the Saiyaman Saga whereas, in the manga, he's sixteen. This takes place approximately a year after the Buu Saga so that the dragonballs are useful again. This would make Gohan about seventeen and Goten about eight. All other ages are up for speculation (for now).

Something occurred to me last night as I was trying to get Nic to guess where I was going with this...to my complete and utter surprise, I had to spell it out for him. In light of these new developments, I decided to shorten my second chapter and leave you with a nasty cliffhanger in hopes that some of you would venture to guess what comes next. It seemed kinda "well, duh" to me, but, then again, I know what's going to happen. I want to know what YOU think is going to happen. So, if you would be so kind, drop your guesses in the review box. All the amusement might just propel the next chapter forward earlier...hint _hint_.

_**. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .**_

–_Brothers can't share everything. GohanVidelGoten_

_--- _

**Next Chapter:** Mystery solved...getting up to speed...and a rousing game of blame tossing.


	3. Up! Grows the Youngest Saiyan

**Title: **Keeping in the Family  
**Disclaimer: **...Yeah, because this would ever happen.  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ), for angst, violence, lust and a young Saiyan hybrid learning the value of naughty words.

**Summary:** "If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?" With a misplaced wish on the dragonballs, this could turn into a problem. Post-Buu, GV – but which G?

Have fun guessing?

(For reference, all words in **_emboldened italics _**are significant of a flashback.)

* * *

**Chapter Three:** Up! Grows the Youngest Saiyan

Trunks stared at his best friend in utter horror for a long minute as the sky behind him cleared, the darkness carried away with the now petrified dragonballs to the far ends of the Earth.

"G-Goten...," Trunks choked on his tongue. The violet-topped halfling was, for the first time since the Earth's destruction, at a loss for snappy word play. "What did you _do_?"

"It worked? Trunks-kun, did it work?"

"I...wha...of course it worked, idiot!" Trunks shouted, finding his wind. Goten twirled in place, admiring the changes bestowed by the Eternal Dragon.

"Cool!"

If it had seemed like a bright idea at the time, Trunks would have punched his playmate in the face. As it was, Trunks valued the use of both hands. "_Not _cool! What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm gonna go find 'Nee-chan! She'll marry me now!"

"No!" Trunks sputtered quickly. This was going to be hard enough to hide as it was, there was no need to show it off in public.

"Why not?"

"Because...aw, geeze, I'm going to get in so much trouble for this," Trunks pinched the bridge of his nose in imitation of his mothers "thinking" stance.

"Trunks-kun, I wanna go marry 'Nee-chan."

"No!" Trunks shouted again, gathering his bearings. He crossed his arms over his chest firmly, shadowing his mother further. "You're not going anywhere until we figure out how to fix this, mister!"

"But I don't _want_ to fix it! I wanna marry 'Nee-chan!"

Damn, so single-minded. Trunks figured this had to be because he couldn't fit more than one idea into his brain at a time. "You can't marry Videl 'Nee-chan."

"Why not?"

"Cause she's gonna marry Gohan-san, that's why!"

"She is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not! 'Nii-san doesn't want to marry 'Nee-chan! He _said_ so!"

The older halfling snorted with laughter. "That's cause he's a weak dork that doesn't know what he wants. Otou-san said so."

"You're wrong, Trunks-kun! I _am_ going to marry 'Nee-chan!"

Trunks covered his head with his arms as Goten leapt into the air, stirring up a tornado of dust. "Wait – Goten!" he called after his friend, coughing as he accidentally inhaled some of the debris. Trunks squinted his watering eyes to the west where Goten was no more than a glowing golden dot on the horizon. "Great! This is just _great_!" he lamented, tossing his arms up in grand dramatic gesture. "I'm going to get in _sooo_ much trouble for this!"

With another burst of golden chi, the half-human prince found himself once again chasing after his mutated subject.

* * *

"Shit!" Gohan stopped abruptly in midair as the atmosphere cleared, the dark smog of magic receding into the distance. He watched as it collected at one point to the east and, with an intense flare of light, imploded.

Peeking above the visor of his arm, Gohan further witnessed the implosion separate into seven identical fragments and scatter in seven opposite directions. He dodged one of the pieces as it flew past his head by a slim margin.

"Shit!" he cursed again. "They've already made their wishes."

The demi-Saiyan investigator focused on the spot at which the Eternal Dragon had recently hovered. Two familiar chi signatures lingered there, each rising and falling in flux.

"Huh?" the newest development boggled the eldest hybrid. "What are they doing over there?"

The wind returned, confiding softly to Gohan no useful information. The same sweet, hollow nothings of pleasant weather and frosted drinks.

Gohan raised his chi slightly, prepared to continue on his mission with a cloudy understanding of the proceedings, but paused again. The chi signature most familiar to him spiked, as if aroused in battle.

Suddenly, it no longer seemed so familiar.

Of course, familiar or non, Gohan was about to meet it head on. It approached him with a speed that nearly matched his own and a fervor that heavily outranked his.

"Shit..."

* * *

Videl didn't stop as the sun bloomed in the sky above her, restored to its lofty throne after the short-lived coup. She couldn't even pause to spare the sudden change one of her usual wide-eyed responses, in far too much a hurry to find Gohan. If she were to ever catch up with her classmates superior speed and stealth, Videl would have to pull out all the stops and remain focused on her goal.

Oh, but Satan Videl wouldn't be left behind. No this time. Not again.

This time, she would catch that super son of a bitch before he got himself killed again. No way she would be left behind again, waiting for him to prove his family and friends wrong by coming back alive. She had promised herself that, from the resolution of the Majin Buu episode on, she would stick to Son Gohan's side as if conjoined by cement. For better or worse, in thickness or in stealth (as he was prone to both), till death do they part, Videl would never leave Gohan's side. Never.

Now, if only he would stop trying to ditch her, the plan could work.

"I'm going to find you, Son Gohan! You can't hide forever," she declared, straining to release more of her chi like he had taught her. By expelling it in short, closely timed bursts, one could propel themselves forward at a greater rate. By increasing the intensity of the bursts, one could turn it up another notch.

Videl approached the speed of sound as she followed Gohan's trail. Though she couldn't detect chi with accuracy or at a distance, she could feel lingering traces of large amounts of it by simply passing her body through it. It was like following a river to the ocean in a boat. Eventually, by following the current, one would be led to the source. Judging by the heat of the chi she followed, Gohan wasn't too far ahead of her...not by human versus Saiyan standards, anyway. Probably only a few more miles up ahead.

"Eureka!" Videl grinned, feeling the electrical current of Gohan's life energy spark along her skin, leaving behind trails of goose bumps. Two figures, hovering above the ground, and, presumably arguing, were within her sight. "Got him!"

* * *

"No, I won't move out of the way!" Gohan snarled, tensed in fighting stance as he blocked his newest adversary's way. "What the hell did you do, Goten?" He was far beyond watching his language in front of his somewhat younger brother.

Goten puckered his lower lip in his patented "don't you love me anymore?" pout. "Me 'n Trunks-kun got the dragonballs," he explained without elaboration.

Gohan roved his eyes over his brother's body. "I can see that."

The only proof that the scantily clad young adult floating before Gohan was, in fact, Son Goten was his chi signature. And his Super Saiyan status, can't forget that. Goten was now approximately six feet, give or take, from head to toe and fully...developed, if the torn remnants of the young hybrids training gi was any indication. The last few scraps clung to his hips and crotch by bulging seams, the only part of the former outfit that hadn't shredded under the strain of the worlds fastest growth spurt.

Beneath a jutting spike of hair that, like all of his fathers native race, defied gravity, Son Goten the quasi-adult glared at his older brother with something close to irritation. "'Nii-san, I want to go find 'Nee-chan! Let me go."

"Goten, why did you do...this?" Gohan gestured helplessly at Goten's body. Goten looked down at himself as if Gohan were implying that something had gone wrong with the transformation. Finely chiseled muscles...higher power reading...large endowment...nope, all seemed to be in order.

"To marry 'Nee-chan!" Goten sighed with exasperation as if this motive were the most obvious in the world. "Remember...?"

* * *

"_**If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?"**_

_**The dinner table maintained its painful silence, attentions divided between the well-meaning child and his commitment-reluctant older brother. Videl, sparing Gohan from her glare for a few precious moments, blinked at Goten, all expression and blood drained from her face.**_

"_**Ah...that's alright, Goten," she finally spoke, a tentative smile twitching on her lips. "I don't need to marry anybody."**_

"_**But I want to marry you, 'Nee-chan!" the child hybrid insisted with an eager grin.**_

"_**That's really sweet, Goten, but...ah..."**_

_**Goten's face fell at a slow, heart-wrenching pace. "You don't want to marry me, 'Nee-chan?" he sniffled. A single, enormous tear rolled down his cheek.**_

_**The initial stupefied lock down of logic melted away, guilt filling Videl's heart like molten lead. "It's not like that, Goten," Videl placated softly, abandoning her chair to kneel next to the child. She wiped the tear away, absorbing it into the bare skin of her palm, and leaned in with meaningful eyes. "I just don't think that you would really want to marry an old lady like me."**_

"_**You're not old, 'Nee-chan! You're pretty and...erm...not wrinkly at all!" his mother always loved it when he told her that. "Besides, even if you were, I'd still want to marry you," he proclaimed, undeterred by reasoning.**_

_**Videl stroked the wet smear on his cheek with her thumb, a humoring smile on her lips. "Goten, do you even know what marriage is for?"**_

"**_Yeah, 'Tou-san explained it to me," one member of the party groaned, another looked politely cowed._ _"It's when you live with a girl in the same house for the rest of your life," he explained, proudly reciting his fathers assessment verbatim. "It's not food," he added. _**1

"_**Well...close," Videl agreed, pressing her lips together to prevent her laughter from leaking out. "But there's more to it than that, Goten."**_

"_**Like what?"**_

"_**Well...you have to love the person you're married to. More than anyone else in the entire world," Videl finished, satisfied with her G-rated definition of marital relations.**_

_**Goten leapt up onto the seat of his chair, "But I do love you, 'Nee-chan! More than anyone!" he proclaimed, staring directly into Videl's eyes with adamant conviction.**_

_**Chi-Chi began chewing on her tongue.**_

"**_Oh, I'm sure that you love your family a _lot _more than me, Goten," Videl inched away from Chi-Chi. "Besides, I'm talking about a different kind of love."_**

"_**Different how?"**_

"_**Just...different, Goten. You won't know what it feels like until you experience it."**_

"_**I know I love you lots, 'Nee-chan. And 'Kaa-san says that 'Nii-san needs to marry you quick or you'll get away!" Goten wailed, throwing himself at Videl. He latched onto Videl's neck as he lowered his voice to a whimper, "I don't want you to go away, 'Nee-chan, so marry me instead! You can sleep in my bed every night and I'll share all of my toys with you!" there was desperation in his tears now.**_

_**Videl cradled the sobbing Goten, much as she had earlier in the day, stroking fingers through his thick spikes as his tears soaked into her shirt. The young boy clung to her as if she would slip away from him at any moment, leaving him with negative one family member yet again in his young life. Videl had witnessed this child cry over everything from a broken toy to a scrape that wouldn't even have hurt a lesser child, but she had only witnessed him cry like this one other time. On the lookout, during a short session in which training had been suspended, when Gohan was still presumed dead.**_

"_**Please marry me, 'Nee-chan!" the little boy sobbed. Chi-Chi restrained herself across the room, one arm reaching out to her youngest child. "'Nii-san doesn't want to marry you, so marry me instead! I don't want you to go away because of 'Nii-san again!"**_

_**Gohan squirmed, the thick material of his gi rustling against the wallpaper.**_

_**Unnoticed by the rest of the kitchen, Videl's eyes took a darker sheen. "Shh...Goten, I won't go away...shh..."**_

_**Goten slackened his grip on her neck and buried his face in Videl's bosom, finding the spot closest to her body that he could possibly fit into. "Why don't you want to marry me, 'Nee-chan...?"**_

"_**It's not that I don't want to, Goten, it's that I can't."**_

_**Without abandoning his position, Goten sniffled, "Why not?"**_

"_**Because I'm too old for you. You don't want an old lady like me, even if I'm not all wrinkled yet," she smiled into Goten's spikes. "Besides, you're too young to get married. You're supposed to spend the rest of your life with the person you're married to. If you were to marry them now, that would be a LONG time."**_

_**Goten tilted his head back to look at Videl, keeping his nose and mouth in her chest. "What if I were older, 'Nee-chan? Could I marry you then?"**_

_**Wiping away the last few drying tears with the back of her hand, Videl rubbed her nose against Goten's playfully. "If you were older, Goten, of course I would marry you!"**_

* * *

****

"...So me and Trunks-kun found all the dragonballs and I wished to be old enough to marry 'Nee-chan," Goten explained with a grin that seemed far less innocent in his new form. "Now she won't have to go away because you don't want to!"

Gohan felt as if all the blood had drained from his body as his younger brother explained his motives for skipping puberty. He had lost a significant fraction of his life in order to steal his older brothers girlfriend. (Technicalities be damned for the moment.)

"So I'm gonna go find 'Nee-chan!" Goten proclaimed, seeming to have declared the matter settled. He flared his energy to a golden hue, all the faster to reach Videl with, and disappeared from the view of the naked human eye.

But not Gohan's. Without even being forced into his Mystic form, Gohan blocked the path of his singularly minded younger brother. "I don't think so, Goten."

Goten, his new teenage hormones now coupled with Saiyan battle instinct, glared with nothing short of annoyance. "She said she would marry me if I were old enough. I'm old enough now, so let me go find her, 'Nii-san!"

"There's more to it than age, Goten!" Gohan snapped, forcing his own hackles back down. "You can't just marry a girl because you're old enough to do it."

"But she said she would!" Goten countered, attempting once again to push past his brother. Gohan pushed back, sending a confounded Goten sprawling backwards.

"Goten, you're coming with me," Gohan commanded. "Maybe Bulma-san can find a way to fix this mess before anyone else finds out."

"No!" the once youngest Saiyan rebelled, flashing his golden aura in threat to attack. "I want to marry 'Nee-chan! You said you didn't want to, so I'm going to instead before you make her go away again!"

"I didn't make anyone go away!" Gohan dropped into a fighting stance, still deigning to remain in his natural form.

"Yes, you did! You made her cry and she went away and didn't come back until I went to find her!" Goten yelled, his aura expanding with his rage. "You made her go away! I won't let you again!"

This time far too quick for Gohan to block, Goten charged – now aiming for his older brothers torso. His thick skull, hardened by genetic disposition, connected with Gohan's abdomen and both brothers were sent crashing into the Earth below.

They collided with the ground, Gohan first, with a minor explosion. They were further depressed into the Earths crust as the loose soil and rock fell away from the impact, concaving into a crater roughly the size of Orange Star Highs football field. The teenage adversaries didn't linger long enough to reach the lowest point of the crater, however, and bounded away from each other as the ground finished crumbling. They squared off from opposite edges of the depression, waiting for the other to move next.

Though it would have been nearly impossible for the untrained eye to follow, Goten moved first, leaping into the air above the crater. Gohan met him in the center, showing superior speed by arriving at the meeting point first without Goten's head start. The brothers became a colorful smear as they, presumably, fought each other in bare handed combat. Only three beings on Earth – possibly four – could determine the movements for sure.

Much to his shock and horror, Gohan was the first to lose control of the situation and was sent crashing back to Earth, this time skidding along the ground superficially. After two impacts and a stabilizing handspring, he was back on his feet, spitting a mouthful of blood into the crater to his left.

Goten, who had been trained by Vegeta not to waste any opportunity, was upon his dearest elder brother before he could even regain his proper fighting stance. Gohan blocked the punch thrown, countered the kick that followed, but missed the second fist aiming for his skull.

"Augh!" he cried, dropping into their initial crater after a short, unintended flight. He hit the ground midway down and rolled the rest of the way, settling in the pits lowest point.

Goten hovered above him, gathering energy between his cupped palms. "Ka..."

Gohan struggled to sit up, wincing and holding his rib cage tenderly.

"...Me..."

_Damnit, didn't that Majin Buu thing count as training...?_

"...Ha..."

The eldest Son child was at the mercy of his younger brother, years before expected. Goten's power was increasing rapidly and the ball of chi between his hands was humming as it waited impatiently to be released.

"...Me..."

Gohan finally managed to stand and, knowing that he was too late to move out of the path of the beam, held his arms crossed in front of him to block it. He squinted his eyes shut and prayed as he waited for the inevitable impact.

"...Ha – !"

"HAA!"

The final syllable of the incantation became a strangled yelp and the collection of Goten's chi dissipated into the atmosphere, lost. A short distance away there was another explosion, far smaller than the one Goten would have caused, and a cloud of dust passed over the rim of the crater.

Gohan squinted through the miasma and caught sight of a short, glowing silhouette. The gold ate away at the dusty cloud, chasing it away from the small body. "Trunks-kun!" Gohan shouted, never happier to see the spoiled son of his fathers greatest rival.

The now youngest Super Saiyan held his arms poised in chi release, golden flames licking at his small, muscular body. He relaxed his stance but didn't lower his arms as he turned to Gohan, pleading with his eyes, "I swear! I didn't know he was going to wish for that!"

Gohan lowered his arms, now scowling at the irresponsible child. "What were you doing gathering the dragonballs anyway? They're not to be played around with, for reasons like this!" he pointed in the vague direction that Goten had hurtled in. Gohan was livid and his aura sparked to externalize it. "Now Goten has missed out on half of his life and I don't even know if we can fix it!"

Trunks flinched, his hands now hanging down by his sides. "I'm sorry, Gohan-san..."

Gohan, removing the hand from his cracked ribs, tangled his fingers in his hair with a sigh of exasperation. "Alright...," he acknowledged, not quite ready to accept apologies. "What did you wish for? Not for Videl-san to grow younger, I hope," his stomach clenched as he realized he hadn't been with Videl when the second wish had been made.

Trunks averted his eyes, digging at invisible ground with his toe. "I...wished for the Gravitron to be fixed before 'Kaa-san or Otou-san noticed."

A trembling laugh fell from Gohan's lips. No more catastrophic wishes, that was good. "Alright, let's collect Goten and go to Capsule Corps. Maybe Bulma-san can think of something..."

The Saiyan prince flinched again, but deigned not to argue. Oh, boy, was he ever going to be in trouble for this...

"Sure, Gohan-san," he agreed. "'Kaa-san is going to be so – "

"– HA!"

With a silent expression of surprise, Trunks was sent flying away from the crater by a white-hot beam of chi.

"Trunks-kun!" Gohan shouted in horror as the young Saiyan was shoved out of his line of sight.

"That was no fair, Trunks-kun!" the deep, offended voice of Son Goten accused, still poised on the edge of the pit behind Gohan in attack stance. "You sneaked up on me!"

The young princeling lay in a useless heap yards away at the base of an inconvenient rock formation with a steady stream of blood leaking from his forehead. His breathing was heavy, yet steady, but he hardly seemed in condition to get back up, possibly for a few days.

"Trunks-kun?" Goten called, his golden eyebrows coming apart as the tension of his expression dissipated. His heart fluttered with guilt as Trunks didn't respond with one of his usual offended barbs. "Trunks-ku – "

A heavy force connected with his jaw and Goten was sent reeling backwards, mystified.

"Goten," the low, graveled voice of a highly irritated Mystic Gohan growled. "That's enough! You're coming with me, now!"

Despite the guilt he felt over inflicting Trunks potentially life-threatening injuries, Goten was undeterred from his stubborn act of rebellion against Gohan. "No!"

"Goten," Gohan warned again, his voice steadily dropping in octaves. "Come with me now or I'll have to take you by force. Either way, we're going to Capsule Corps."

Goten dropped his hand from his chin and crouched low. "Make me."

Gohan, standing upright, said, "Fine," and disappeared.

Goten barely managed to ward off his older brothers attack, catching the first punch in his own fist. Then the second. The two siblings faced off, forcing against each others hands with chi-fortified strength.

"I'm...going to...marry...'Nee-chan!" Goten increased his energy and his body glowed brilliantly under its own power. Gohan increased his Mystic chi, forcing against Goten only as hard as he forced back. Sparks and ripples of energy spawned from their stalemate of conjoined hands as the Son brothers transcended sibling rivalry.

Calm as he ever was, Gohan retorted, "Over my dead body."

* * *

**Word Bank:**

(None today. Go buy a dictionary.)

**Footnotes:**

1 Dragonball reference, for those of us (such as myself) who spent years ignoring the history that took place before the start of Z. Early in dragonball, Goku meets Chi-Chi while on an errand for the Ox King (Gyu-Mao) and, after successfully bringing Master Roshi (Muten Roshi) to Mount Frying Pan to put out the huge forest fire that prevented the royalty from even getting to their own castle, Gyu-Mao offered Goku his daughters hand in marriage. Up until the 23rd Budokai, when he meets up with Chi-Chi again as combatants, he is under the impression that marriage is something edible. Chi-Chi, insulted that Goku doesn't even remember his own fiancee, explains the concept to him and, after being assured that Chi-Chi would cook for him for the rest of his life, agrees to marry her after all. (They are, supposedly, married immediately after the tournament, approximately five years before the start of DBZ.) And that, my friends, is the...erm...romantic history behind Goku and Chi-Chi. Boy, I'll bet the wedding night was a surprise...(He probably learned that marriage could, occasionally, be edible, though )

**Authors Note:** Moved to college...homework...lazy...bringing an old fic back to life..so many other horrible excuses...forgiveness? Expect the next chapter to be slow in coming too. I just don't have as much time to work on frivolous excuses for writing...as much as I love it. I'll do my best to get it out this month, tho.

Someone mentioned the Super Saiyan versus Mystic transformation thing in one of their reviews...honestly, I don't know for certain how the entire thing works. According to some, Gohan loses his ability to turn Super Saiyan after gaining his Mystic transformation from the Kai's. I don't know if this is ever directly stated in the series, myself, because I stopped watching after the entire scenario got too stupid to bear any longer, but I don't really see why he wouldn't be able to use his Saiyan powers. I mean, sure, he would naturally opt for his strongest form in battle, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he can't access his weaker transformations when attempting to hold back, right? Well, just to be safe, I'll stick to the Mystic/SS rules for now (it doesn't really impact my later plans for his power anyway). Thanks for the concern, btw! Don't want to mess it up in the third chapter, now do we?

I'm almost totally rewriting "Irony" for a new friend of mine and, once I'm finished with it, I'm considering posting it again. Some of y'all might remember it from a couple years ago before I took it down so, if you do, let me know what you think. If you don't, just wait and see if a new fic appears on my list sometime (fairly) soon.

Not my best chapter ever, but I hope it'll get better from here. I cut a small part out of the end because, not only was it not coming out the way I'd hoped, but it didn't flow particularly well with the rest of the chapter. Not to worry, though. I'll do something similar with it at the beginning of next chapter...promise. Anyway, I cut the last part out at the end and decided to leave the rest as-is. Still, not my best work ever...alas. Tell me what YOU think

I considered doing something different with the plot while y'all were guessing, but that would have meant revamping the entire story and cutting out some of the romance. Being a big fan of romance myself, I didn't particularly want to do that. If anyone wants to know what else I was considering, though, leave a note in your review and I'll fit it into the authors notes next chapter. (HINT HINT HINT)

MVS

**Next Chapter:** Someone else's turn to catch the blame ball...Professional help is needed...solutions are put on hold...and who's going to tell Chi-Chi?


	4. Now! What Happens?

**Title: **Keeping in the Family  
**Disclaimer: **...Yeah, because this would ever happen.  
**Rating: **PG-13 ( T ), for angst, violence, lust and a young Saiyan hybrid learning the value of naughty words.

**Summary:** "If 'Nii-san won't marry you, will you marry me instead?" With a misplaced wish on the dragonballs, this could turn into a problem. Post-Buu, GV – but which G?

* * *

**Chapter Four:** Now! What Happens?

Flick. Sputter.

_Damned contraption..._

Flick. Sputter.

_I've really got to put a better one into production. _

Flick. Sputter.

"Augh!" Bulma groaned in exasperation around the cigarette clamped betwixt her teeth. "This goddamn thing makes me want my cigarette more!"

Flick. Spark. Life.

Before the flame could escape back into the plastic, combustible-filled contraption, the aging heiress to Capsule Corp inserted her carcinogen stick into the eager-to-die spark of fire. She pulled the cancerous smoke into her lungs, prompting the cigarette to light, and visibly relaxed as the nicotine assuaged her addiction. "Brilliant marketing strategy, now that I think of it."

"Ah, Bulma-san...," an anxious Gohan spoke up, withholding any and all violent urges toward the unhelpful family acquaintance. "Can't you think of anything to help us?"

Bulma exhaled smoke as she released the button on her lighter, the weak flame disappearing instantaneously. Cigarette now securely held aloft between her fingers, Bulma reassessed the situation across the room.

Goten – all nearly-naked six feet of him – was snuggled deep into the bosom of his older brothers should-be girlfriend, ecstatically proclaiming that they should get married in February, on his birthday. Videl struggled against her unfamiliar, zealous admirer.

"Are you deaf?! I said let me go!"

"'Nee-chan, would we still get to eat cake in a traditional wedding?"

"Augh!"

Bulma took another drag.

"Can't say I've ever invented anything for this, no," she admitted.

Gohan tangled his fingers into his own hair, aware and unaffected at the prospect of early male pattern baldness. "Can't you invent something _now_?"

Her mouth, lined from years of nicotine abuse, drew into a frown. "Kid, if I could invent something to reduce aging, I would be a helluva lot richer than I am," smoke was exhaled from her nostrils in a huff. "And that's saying something."

"So, you're saying it's hopeless...?" Gohan's head fell, supported only by the roots of his hair clenched between his fingers. The armchair he was sitting in creaked as his entire upper body fell forward in defeat.

"How is that for the son of Son-kun 1 to talk, huh?" Bulma leaned on the arm of the chair, nudging Gohan's limp shoulder with her elbow. Her other hand supported the cigarette which was trickling ash on the expensive, white shag carpet. "It's not hopeless. There's always the dragonballs."

Gohan's head lifted, turned slightly to his left to look at Goten, now scooping Videl up into his arms for an overly-enthusiastic hug. Pressed chest to chest, Videl was swung around like a violently swearing rag doll.

"Put me down, you bastard!"

"We're gonna be together forever, 'Nee-chan!"

"If you live that – eek!" Videl squeaked as all of the oxygen in her lungs was expelled at once. Her nails dug fiercely into Goten's hard flesh, struggling desperately for breath while the ever-unobservant Saiyan crushed her to his bare, golden-tinted chest.

"I don't think I can wait a year, Bulma-san," Gohan buried his face in his palms, a vein in his temple twitching at an almost audible beat. Behind them, Videl successfully took a breath as Goten relented his affection.

"Stupid...bastard."

Bulma rubbed her chin with her free hand, the wrapping of her cigarette slowly burning away into ash from neglect. "What about the Namekian dragonballs? I'm sure the Nameks will be more than happy to lend them to the son of Son Goku."

"We don't even know where New Namek is, or how far."

Bulma rapped him on the head with a fisted knuckle, grinning with a sharp-witted counter. "Son-kun went there once. To retrieve Dende, remember?"

Gohan rubbed his abused scalp and turned his hopeless scowl upon the middle-aged heiress. "Otou-san can't even find his way between here and home, Bulma-san. I don't think he'll be able to remember where New Namek is."

Bulma drew her cigarette to her mouth in deep thought; the ash shriveled and fell away from the tip, startled by motion.

"He was able to find the location with help from Kaio-sama 2," she suggested after a moment. "I'll bet he can do it again."

"Otou-san has been pretty much banned from the afterlife. He mentioned something about breaking the laws of nature...besides, I don't think that the Nameks would be too happy to see him, either. Dende told me that he's seen as some sort of bad omen by most of the villagers."

A puff of smoke snorted out of Bulma's nostrils. "I can see that. I mean, the first time he showed up, their planet exploded. The second time, he appeared out of thin air to kidnap Dende."

"Yeah...so it's probably better if Otou-san doesn't collect the dragonballs this time. Plus, Kaio-sama warned him not to use the Instant Transmission for long trips too often. Not unless he wants to split all the molecules in his body, at least."

"From what I've been led to believe as a scientist, that would be cause for concern."

"I can't think of anything else, Bulma-san...do you have any more ideas?"

"Nope, not a thing."

Gohan ached to bang his head against something hard and, if at all possible, sharp and pointy.

"Either way, this thing isn't going to be fixed before dinner. Someone's got to call Chi-Chi."

"Will someone help me get away from this imposter already?!" Videl's shriek drew the war-worn veterans away from their conversation. "Or are we waiting for the honeymoon?!"

As Videl attempted to drag herself out of Goten's arms by her fingernails, kicking aimlessly at her captors head, Gohan sighed. "I almost wish I were telling her that someone died again..."

— — —

Crack...tinkle.

Gulp.

Goku inched a little further away from his wife who was, for some reason, taking out frustration on a towering stack of dirty dishes and cursing violently. Every so often she would release a frustrated scream and toss another dish onto the vastly greater pile of broken dinnerware.

"Ohh! Those boys – late again!" Chi-Chi fumed, another plate crumbling between her merciless hands. "Goten I would expect this from, but Gohan too?"

Aching to flee, but knowing better, Goku pressed himself as far against the opposite wall as he possibly could, denting the delicate plaster in his own image. Goku gulped again; all the power in the world and he still couldn't find the courage to speak to his own wife. "Ahem...ah, Chi-Chi, dear...?"

"I mean, I know that Gohan has a little girlfriend now and that he can't neglect his obligations to her, but really...,"

"Chi-Chi...?"

"...he shouldn't neglect his family, either! Poor little Goten will grow up without a brother and...,"

"Honey, could you...?"

"...he could just bring her along to dinner! It's not like she sits down to eat with that incorrigible father of hers. She needs to experience a real family meal..."

"Chi-Chi, I'm trying to...,"

"Really, how did my oldest son become so inconsiderate? Must be all that time he spends out in the wilderness with that good-for-nothing green man – "

"Chi-Chi!" Goku raised his voice slightly, snapping his wife out of her self-propelled rant.

Bad move.

"_What_, Goku?" She slammed her sopping dish rag on the counter, suds and dirty water flung in all directions covering her immaculately-kept kitchen with a light sprinkle of diluted food. "_What_ is so much more important than your sons happiness?!"

Goku pressed so hard against the wall that cracks began spreading from the dent he had made in anxiety. "Um...I j-just wanted to tell you that G-Gohan was on the phone...they're all at Bulma's."

Throwing the dripping, smelly rag into Goku's face, Chi-Chi sped out of the kitchen toward the living room video phone. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Deciding that his life was better spared elsewhere, Goku scurried to freedom out the kitchen door and took to the air, the one place his wife wouldn't be able to follow him. "Geeze...and she wonders why I train Uub so much!" Goku shivered, powering up to his full speed.

Time to blow this scary pop-stand. Uub could cook almost as well as Chi-Chi, anyway.

"WHAT?!"

Cue to exit, stage left.

And with that, Goku took to the wind and, within seconds, was far away from the place his family called home. Boy, did he miss being dead.

— — —

The video screen went blank, officially devoid of his mothers face, and Gohan released an involuntary shudder. He hadn't even gotten to tell her the bad news yet.

"It wasn't...erm...that bad," Bulma said, exhaling an unusually large cloud of smoke. "I mean, it could have been worse."

Stumbling backwards into the armchair he had been using earlier, Gohan stared blankly at the dark screen as a creepy twitter of laughter began leaking out of him, "Oh, it will be..."

Bulma backed away from Gohan, fumbling for her pack of cigarettes in her cluttered purse. "Well...it's not like anyone's dead, or anything. And we can fix this somehow, I'm sure, even if we have to send the two of you to Namek the old-fashioned way."

"Didn't that take a month the first time?"

"Well, yeah, but that was over ten years ago, kid. Our ships can get there and back within a couple of days now. You know, as soon as we figure out how to get there."

"Yeah, right after that..."

"Augh! Would you get him off of me?!"

"'Nee-san, are you mad at me for something?"

As Gohan banged his repetitively abused head against Bulma's dented coffee table again he sorely began wishing that it was _his_ death that they had to break to his mother...

— — —

**Word Bank:**

**Sensei** – most commonly recognized as "teacher." Can also be used to address others with "professional" careers, such as a doctor, lawyer, author, manga-ka, etc. (Ie, Hinako-sensei from_ Ranma ½_, Toriyama-sensei)

(I know I've mentioned "sensei" before, but I realized that there were parts of the definition unexplained. For instance, Manga-ka was mentioned in the previous definition and not further explored. Therefore, I've put it in again for overall clarity's sake.)

**Manga-ka** – (you'd think I'd put these in the story or something) An author/artist of manga/graphic novels. (Ie, Toriyama Akira and Takahashi Rumiko are both manga-ka.)

—

**Footnotes:**

( 1 ) Son-kun is what Bulma calls Goku in Japanese. Toriyama-sensei probably did this to express the differences between Bulma, who was raised in proper society, and Goku, who lived rural solitude for most of his young life. You'll notice that Goku will address most characters more familiarly than the rest, even upon first meeting them, not really understanding any better. For instance, he immediately takes to calling Bulma by her first name (and first name only) in the first volume/episode of Dragonball (which is, btw, a no-no if you happen to visit Japan one day; considered disrespectful).

Gohan, in complete and utter contrast, refers to even his familiar's by "-san," most likely due to his mother and inborn shy nature. He even refers to Videl as "Videl-san," despite his close age and relationship to her. I can't honestly say if or when he stops calling her -san in the series since I stopped watching the Buu Saga half way through, but I wouldn't be shocked if he still called her that in GT. Psychologically, he probably does this to distance himself from people, thinking himself an unworthy troublemaker for the Earth...but that's a completely different story, there.

( 2 ) Kaio-sama is "King Kai," or Lord of the North in the afterlife. Short, squat blue guy that tells jokes worse than the ones you find on popsicle sticks. He trained Goku by instructing him to catch his monkey... Anyway, I hope he sounds familiar now.

—

**Authors Note:** I chopped this chapter in half (again) so that I could go ahead and post it. SIGH. So sorry to all of you who have been waiting, but I've been hung up on my Naruto story as of late and have been attempting to keep up with those chapters. So far, so good, but I don't have much time left over for other series; sorry, folks.

I've also shortened my plot considerably, which I hope will enable me to finish it sometime this century. I still fully intend to make this the best story possible, however, and won't skimp on any of the necessary details. From here on out it'll be mostly humor with a twist of angsty romance, as promised previously. The only REAL mystery is: Who in hell will Videl choose?

Stay tuned to find out.

_**. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) . **_


End file.
